Swallows Never Die in Jerusalem

Swallows Never Die in Jerusalem

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 2, 1994

Runtime

1h 24m

Genres

Drama

Original Title

Les hirondelles ne meurent pas à Jerusalem

Production Companies

Canal+, France 2

Director

Ridha Behi

Description

Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are sensitively explored in the Tunisian-French drama. Richard, a French TV journalist has been assigned to do a political story in Jerusalem the night before Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat sign their peace accord. Richard is glad to go as it gives him a chance to see his girlfriend Esther, a psychologist. Esther's father Moshe is continually tormented by his Holocaust memories. Hammoudi, nicknamed "Local Radio," is Richard's taxi driver and guide. He tells Richard the story of his family which was uprooted in 1948 resulting in the disappearance of his grandmother. Mysteriously, her picture appeared in a recent Arabic newspaper. Richard, intrigued, decides to center his investigations upon "Local Radio's" story. As he delves deeper into their lives he discovers that the ancient rivalries between the Israeli's and Palestinians is far too deep and complex to be easily explained away.